In an effort to garner student votes in the March 6 City Council elections, seven candidates for the Claremont City Council participated in an open forum held by Pomona College this past Monday.

In addition to their three-minute introductory statements, candidates were asked to answer the question ,"How will you improve the relationship between the Claremont Colleges and the City of Claremont?"

All candidates voiced desire to improve college-city relations, in light of recent friction between the two bodies. Among the topics addressed were concerns about the accessibility of city government, with emphasis on access to council meetings, documents, and personnel, conflicts with the police, expansion of the Claremont Village and development of the Bernard Field Station.

"I was surprised to find that there is a feeling of disenfranchisement among the student body," candidate Bo Bollinger said. "There is a sense that the decisions of the city are pre-ordained."

Candidate Llewellyn Miller agreed. "Citizens only hear about the final decisions of the City Council, never any of the other options," Miller said.

Bollinger proposed a rotating council system, in which Claremont would be divided into several regions. Each council member would be responsible for a region, and members would periodically rotate throughout the city’s various regions. Under this plan, the Claremont Colleges would comprise a region of their own, and students would have a specific council member responsible for their concerns at all times.

Miller hopes that the city can develop the current website to include more information than it does now. Among other things, he wants to post the contents of council meetings on the site, so that residents can access the contents of the meetings without having to go to City Hall. Currently, anyone who wants to access city documents has to know the exact date of the file he or she wants, and must pay ten cents for each page of the document.

Candidates recognized that students as well as Claremont residents feel the city’s red tape is an impediment to the idea of open government.

"This needs to be your council, not the elitist council that it is today," candidate Albert Quintanar said to the students at the forum. "Vote your conscience. This is your chance to make an effective change."

"You’re not only the future of this country or this city," candidate Opyani Nasaili said. "You’re already currently participating economically and politically in Claremont."

When asked about concern over police brutality and the Irving Landrum shooting, candidates reacted strongly against the current City Council’s actions. Miller and Bollinger both cited the Landrum incident as the reason they got involved in city government.

"Students feel that they’re regarded with disdain by the police," candidate Zephyr Tate-Mann said.

One angry Claremont resident blamed the current City Council and incumbent candidate Paul Held for condoning irresponsible police action. He pointed to Pomona’s annual Harwood Halloween party, which has been shut down by police two consecutive years. He then alluded to the Employee of the Year awards that were given to the police officers involved in the Landrum case.

"The police come in like storm troopers to beat up students while they’re having fun," the anonymous resident said. "And when they shoot a man, they’re given $1,000 bounty and an award."

Candidate Richard Bunck agrees that the Claremont police force is feared rather than respected.

"When you’ve got a police department where people are either afraid of them or some are not protected by them, there’s a problem," Bunck said. "I don’t think we have a racist police department, but we do have a very politicized one. That needs to change."

"The police in Claremont are under the impression that the command structure wants a zero-tolerance policy," Miller said. "What happens is that the police are trying to stop things before they happen, and people feel like they are being harassed. Then, the command structure gets feedback from the police and not from the citizens."

Candidates agree that a way to improve relations between the colleges and the city is to increase student-directed services available in the Claremont Village.

"$15,000 a semester?" Quintanar asked, in reference to tuition. "That’s a lot of money to be paying for no activities [in the surrounding area]!"

To curb the lack of entertainment and retail, the city is in the process of expanding the Village, developing what will become Village West.

"Our goal is to get students involved, and to mold the Village into one the students would want," Held said.

Held said the city is considering building an arts theater that would screen independent and foreign films, a pub, a coffeehouse with live music acts, and a retail establishment such as the GAP.

While some candidates support the city’s attempt to expand, Bunck was one of those who strongly opposed rapid development of the city. Bunck pointed out that in the past two or three years Claremont has experienced rapid growth. Over one hundred houses are being built in the Padua Hills/Baseline area, Village West is in the works, and the Keck Institute is developing the Bernard Field Station.

"The character and future of our town is being changed and is in jeopardy," said Bunck, who feels that open space is one of the most valuable things the city can own. "The City Council presently has no strong dissenting voice. People like the City Council and school trustees have money and power, while many citizens, students and faculty are opposed to development."

The candidates voiced a range of opinions and options for Claremont’s future. On March 6, two of them will be elected to the open City Council seats.

"I think [the forum] went well," said forum coordinator and Mortar Board member Anbinh Phan ’01. "I was really impressed by all of the candidates. They were very well-prepared."

Phan dubbed the event a sucess, but wished that more students had come.

Mortar Board had decided to organize the event, Phan said, in order to raise student concern about issues.

"There’s very little connection between the college[s] and the village. If there were more of a connection, we could make this a college town."

Speaking about the candidates, she said, "there are a lot of important issues in Claremont. We need [candidates] that are accountable and compassionate to a wide range of people in the community."

Phan organized the event with the help of Mortar Board members Claire Bergen ’01 and Emily Klancher ’01, and Wells Miller ’02 and Ed Takashima ’02.